Top Blue Jays Player #18: Devon White
Position: Centre
field
Seasons With the
Jays: 5 (1991-1995)
MLB Awards: Gold
Glove (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
All-Star Game
Selection: 1993
Stats: Games Played 656 Batting Average .270
Base Hits 733 Runs
Scored 452
Home Runs 72 RBIs 274
Doubles
155 Triples 34
Stolen Bases 126
Walks 209
Devon White was one of those
naturally-gifted athletes who made everything look so easy, sometimes it
appeared he wasn’t trying. His range in the outfield was amazing. He never had
to dive for any fly balls because he read them perfectly off the bat, and his
stride was so smooth, he could easily glide to the ball and be there in time to
make a show boat catch (his signature catch was to hold his glove in front of
his chest to catch the ball—try it sometime, it’s not easy). He most likely
would be higher up on this list if he had played more than five season with the
Jays.
He was drafted by the California
Angels in the June Amateur draft in 1981 (sixth round) and made it to the Big
Leagues in 1985, playing 21 games with the Halos. In 1986, although he appeared
in only 29 games, he was included on the post-season roster and was a member of
the Angels that lost the ALCS to the Boston Red Sox (Dave Henderson’s home
run).
He became the Angels’ starting
centre-fielder in 1987 and played 159 games. He batted .263, hit 24 home runs, added
87 RBIs and stole 32 bases. His fielding percentage was .980 and he finished
fifth in voting for the American League’s Rookie of the Year.
Over the next three season, his
offensive numbers declined a little, but his defensive prowess earned him two Gold
Gloves (1988 and 1989) and made the All-Star Game in 1989.
During the off-season of 1990
and 1991, he was traded to Toronto for Junior Felix and Luis Soto. Along with
the other key acquisitions that off-season (Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter), the
trio would bring an offensive and a defensive presence to the team that would
help make the Blue Jays the most dominant team in baseball over the next
several years.
His first year in Toronto, White
batted .282, hit 17 home runs, added 60 RBIs and stole 33 bases as the Jays won
the AL East title. However, the team came up short in the ALCS losing to the
Minnesota Twins. But White played well, batting .364, stole three bases and
scored five runs.
White’s average dropped a bit in
1992 (.248) but the power numbers were the same and he stole 37 bases while
only being caught four times. He won his second Gold Glove with the Jays and
helped the team win their second consecutive division title. In the ALCS
against Oakland, White was actually 0 for 4 in stolen bases attempts (the four
caught stealings matched his regular season total) but he batted .348 and
helped the Jays into the World Series for the first time.
In a well-pitched World Series,
White only batted .231, but will be remembered for two things. The first being
the lead baserunner in extra innings in Game 6 when Dave Winfield doubled down
the left-field line for the game winning (and World Series winning) hit. But
the highlight of White’s World Series will always be the catch he made in Game
3.
In the fourth inning, the
Atlanta Braves’ first two batters got on base (Deion Sanders and Terry
Pendleton). Slugger David Justice drilled a ball into the deep centre field
that wasn’t long enough for a home run, but appeared it was going for extra
bases. White (again) glided back to the warning track, saw the flight of the
ball, jumped and made the catch banging into the wall. His throw back to the
infield started a bizarre series of events that saw the Atlanta base runners
confuse themselves and should have ended in a triple play, only for the second
base umpire not to notice Jays’ third baseman Kelly Gruber tag Sanders in the
foot and call him safe. Anyway, it was an amazing catch that has been played
countless times whenever the 1992 World Series is talked about.
White had a decent 1993 season
(.273, 15, 52 and 34 stolen bases) but was still bumped to the number two spot
in the batting order when the Jays traded for Rickey Henderson in July. The
Jays won the AL East again and White batted .444 with a home run in the ALCS against
the White Sox. In the World Series against the Phillies, White hit a mammoth
home run in Game 1 and eventually ended up batting .292 in the six-game Series.
The Jays won their second straight World Championship.
While Devo continued to put up
solid numbers over the next two years with the Jays (.270, 13, 49 in 1994 and
.283, 10, 53 in 1995) and win two more Gold Gloves, the team struggled. When
they decided to re-build for the 1996 season, White was no longer part of the
plan.
He signed with the Florida
Marlins, helped them win the World Series in 1997, then was traded to the
Arizona Diamondbacks as part of the Marlin purge (most of the team’s stars were
traded or released after winning the World Series—the Marlins showed everyone
how to buy a championship.)
One year with the D-backs was
followed by two with the Dodgers and finally one with the Milwaukee Brewers. He
retired at the age of 38. After leaving Toronto, White never won another Gold
Glove.
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